In the book of 1 Samuel 2, the description of the period was far from suitable, it was a period when the Word of God had disappeared from the land, and everyone and everything was in disarray. There was no peace and in the Word it speaks of the Immorality (1 Sam 2:22), poverty (2:36), and defeat on the battle field (4:10). Those were days of deep despair.
If we take a look around us it’s pretty similar to the circumstances we face in today’s world, with people showing little interest, and regard for the Word or for the Lord. Marriages are dissolved , more than they are developed, which in turn creates broken homes with broken children.
The scholars and education leaders reject the Word of God for learning, so the basis of moral conduct and values are not being adhered to.
Our civic and political leaders do not apply or have interest in the standards set by the Word, and as a result our leaders and our country have little or no direction, instead, waste, greed, and exploitation.
And we wonder why we find our world, our country and our lives in such disarray and decay?
The most baffling thing is there has never been any easier access to the Word as in today’s technology, but yet the interest is not there. Our lives are filled and our time consumed with every type of mental stimulation, all witch gives us no possibility of focusing on what is actually important.
When last did you take the time to be by yourself, and have quiet time, not reading anything, but just being by yourself and thinking. Not switching on the television or the radio or placing a ear phone in your ear.
One of the most frequent questions I hear is , how do I hear Gods voice. Or how do I know its Gods voice.
Well there is no possibility if you never take the time in our consumed lives to sit back and actually listen.
1Samuel 3:1 And the child Samuel served Jehovah before Eli. And the Word of Jehovah was rare in those days. There was no open vision.
1Samuel 3:2 And it happened at that time, when Eli was lying down in his place, and his eyes began to become dim so that he could not see.
1Samuel 3:3 And the lamp of God had not gone out. And Samuel was lying down in the temple of Jehovah, where the ark of God was.
1Samuel 3:4 And Jehovah called Samuel. And he answered, Here am I.
1Samuel 3:5 And he ran to Eli, and said, Here am I. For you called me. And he said, I did not call. Go and lie down again. And he went to lie down.
1Samuel 3:6 And Jehovah called again, Samuel! And Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, Here am I, for you called me. And he answered, I did not call, my son. Go back, lie down.
1Samuel 3:7 And Samuel did not yet know Jehovah, and the Word of Jehovah had not yet been revealed to him.
1Samuel 3:8 And Jehovah called Samuel again, the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, Here am I, for you called me. And Eli saw that Jehovah had called the child.
1Samuel 3:9 And Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down; and it shall be, if One calls you, you shall say, Speak, Jehovah, for Your servant hears. And Samuel went to lie down in his place.
1Samuel 3:10 And Jehovah came and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel! Then Samuel answered, Speak, for Your servant hears.
1Samuel 3:11 And Jehovah said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone who hears it shall tingle.
In this passage we see God calling Samuel by name, not knowing any better Samuel wrongfully identifies the voices, three times thinking that it is Eli, each time running to Eli and saying HERE am I.
God had spoken but Samuel wasn’t listening. The same thing happened in the days of Jesus’ ministry here on earth. God spoke, but the people weren’t listening. The Apostle John says,
God is busy speaking now, and like Samuel people are not listening. How can we receive direction if we don’t take the time, or have the ability to listen.
But we don’t include God in our plans and so often we are so self propelled with our own direction and ambition that the last thing we have time for or interest in is what God has to say. And we wonder why our lives are so often filled with uncertainty, depression and lack of drive. When we pray we are so busy asking and requesting that we don’t listen enough and give God a chance to speak. Instead of as Samuel did was just listen.
When we make requests, or pray to the Lord for something and that prayer is not answered we lose hope, and interest as our desire for instant gratification is not stimulated fast enough. Or when we do listen, and the answer isn’t what we expected to hear, and does not quite match my lifestyle, then it definitely can’t be God. We just want to hear what we want.
When last did you take time to listen rather than to speak, when last did you listen to the wind blow, and experience a little silence.
So often I am faced with individuals which have little or no direction, suffer from a low self worth, experience depression and show little interest. When the word Jesus is mentioned as the solution, very often the word does the opposite from what it is intended to do.
Its purpose is to draw a person near, but most often it drives people away. It is easier for us to grasp something that is tangible, real for us to see, than to believe in something that in our minds is just a story we heard in Sunday school.
I have been on both sides of the spectrum, I opposed Christianity and found it hard to believe, but when I felt all alone, desperate with no direction, it was an option, the only option left, as I had tried everything with no success. I thank the Lord for being so patient with me.
Here comes the tricky part, in order for us to believe, it has to become real and in order for it to become real, we have to experience it. And how are you going to want to experience something if you show no interest in it.
once we have experienced the Lord we need to apply what we have heard and received from the Word. so experience and application are essential.
So if there is no application, what outcome can you expect?
We are so quick to need the Lord in difficult times but show little interest. We wonder why the result is never good, who gets the blame, God, “we believe he never answered he never performed”, well neither did you.
Proverbs 23:12 Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
BEFORE WE CAN APPLY SOMETHING, WE MUST FIRST UNDERSTAND IT.
HOSEA 4: 6, MY PEOPLE PERISH FOR A LACK OF KNOWLEDGE
We need to allow the word to become apart of you.
Col 3 v 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.
Col 3:17 And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
So if the spirit is not dwelling within us, how can we experience or apply it ?
· Rom 10:17 So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
· We need to hear it, read it, understand it to believe and experience and apply it.
I so often see people experiencing the goodness of the lord, the restoration takes place in there lives, the Joy returns after so many years of pain, then all of a sudden the old man returns to his crafty ways, and the first thing that is said is that Jesus thing didn’t work for me. To me it is a lack of consistency and interest and application that causes us to regress, if I don’t continually put effort in, or show a level of interest and apply the word, how can I expect victory to remain in my life.
Luke 6:45 "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
Luke 6:46 "Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
Luke 6:47 "Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like:
Luke 6:48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
Luke 6:49 "But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great."
Question: Which person are you?
Pride is an unrealistically high evaluation of oneself. It is when a person views themselves as better than anyone else. The mind of a proud person seeks to construct everything in his/her internal world to offer up continual adoration and praise to the self, to the ego.
All a man’s accomplishments and achievements are marshalled before his own internal gaze, he views them with self satisfaction. The mind set is "If I bend, I break," sums up the mentality of risking everything for a trivial matter, never to admit when he/she is wrong and fight it to the end.
If others seem to excel more, the proud man can find a way to belittle that person or find fault. As to ensure his position is one of more stature, and that he/she is still more successful. a person filled with this type of pride will go out of their way to broadcast his superior status. and try his/her level best to convince friends, and at the same time themselves.
Pride has many symptoms and features. The difficult thing about it is that it is so hard to see in yourself! Often the people who hate pride the most in others are those who are the proudest themselves.
1. How do we identify we have pride?
2. Revise your definition of manhood.
3. Begin seeing others’ points of view.
4. Revise self-image based on realistic accomplishments.
5. Develop trust and respect for mutual rights.
6. Consider the effects this pride had on others.
Apart from a strong sense of self-worth, man cannot face being wrong without enormous self-destruction! Man’s resistance to change is rooted in the fear of being wrong and the need to be right—that is, pride! A lot more can be said about pride, but the ultimate question must be
How does God feel about it?
SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION:
In Romans 1:28, the Bible explains that people who would not retain God in their knowledge he delivered over to a "reprobate mind."
The word "reprobate" means debase, evil or an addictive-compulsive mind – one stuck with bad habits. Following that statement is a long list of extremely evil conditions or manifestations of the "reprobate mind." One of these conditions named in verse 30 is pride — "Proud". It means to show oneself over others — to believe you are preeminent. The word is always used in the Scriptures in a bad sense.
James 4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says, God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.
It is impossible for the Lord to work in your life, because there is no space.
Humility is the artillery that the grace of God provides to pull down the strong hold of pride.
James 4:10 Be humbled before the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Pride will pull you down. and Humility allows us to be more susceptible to the Lord. If we are filled with pride, how can Jesus be the Lord in your heart and over your life. .
Facing Fear Is Much Easier Than Continuing To Live With It.
So often we let fear dictate our lives, our desires, decisions, and direction without even knowing it. We have these Fears that we will fail. Fear that we will be hurt. Fear of vulnerability. Of illness. Of not being accepted and liked by people. We fear people, there response to us, their likes and dislikes. We fear their scrutiny and ridicule.
We succumb to fear when we look inward rather than upward. Focusing on fear blinds us to what God will shows us, as we are willing to see. When we let fear grow, other negative emotions become entangled with it.
· Pride.
· Selfishness.
· Anger. Depression.
· Self-pity.
· Suspicion.
A spirit of fear does not come from Him. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline: (2 Timothy 1:7, NLT)
So if fear does not come from God, it really is not beneficial for us to operate in this fear, or allow this fear to control us. And if you don’t even know what the fear is about, Ask Him. That’s what an intimate relationship is all about. The Lord will give you direction and perspective.
Sometimes we want to rationalize our feelings. and control what is beyond us. Sometimes we hold on to assumptions and false premises. For purposes such as attention, personal gain, or as an excuse to avoid facing reality. Do you realize that you are making excuses to God, to ourselves and to those hurt by our fear. That’s why we need to seek Him to open our eyes and our hearts.
He can do what we cannot. David had the most straightforward approach: "Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." (Psalm 139:24, NLT)
Examine the thoughts behind your fear. And ask yourself these following questions:
Do the thoughts align with His word?
Do your thoughts toward yourself and others reflect how God sees you and them?
Do you use fear to justify your thoughts and actions?
Do your thoughts centre on blaming someone else or circumstances?
Do you trust your emotions more than you trust Him?
Do you put your way ahead of His way?
Is your fear helping or hurting you, your faith and your relationships?
Asking the Lord to examine our thoughts is the starting point of finding the solution to the problem of facing fears. When we know what the problem is, we can begin the work on solutions. With His help. His way. His wisdom. His power.
Focus on yourself as a person, not on your performance. Replace fear with love.
I John 4: 18 says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear
hath torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love.
For most people the word judgement is like a red flag waved every time they face scrutiny or criticism. often merely used as a defence mechanism. It is the sorry cry of a victim, a person who lacks understanding or any form of criticism. “you are judging me” is the fools ultimate defence.
Proverbs 15:31 The ear that hears the reproof of life shall remain among the wise. 15:32 He who refuses instruction despises his own soul, but he who hears reproof gets understanding.
No criticism is pleasant, and is very difficult to face it with a positive attitude. A lot of people have the ability to accept it from people they trust, but it’s a different thing receiving correction or criticism from a person we barely know or maybe even dislike.
Proverbs 27:5 Open rebuke is better than love that is hidden. 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are lavish and deceitful.
Think how many relationships and friendships have ended because of honest a straight forward correction and criticism. What we need to grasp is that even criticism that is harmful, we can turn around and use it to benefit ourselves.
None of us like correction or criticism, but sometimes it’s the only way for us to be able to see our own foolishness. Criticism is something that we will experience when teaching no longer is effective. When we receive correction or criticism from our friends done normally in love and kindness we often shun away from it and ignore them. The same lesson we may have to learn later through the harshness of our enemies.
Of course not every criticism is a judgement. Like when someone points out our faults, criticises our efforts or expresses a disliking towards us, that is not all judgement. It is a observation, or an opinion. The opinion may be right or wrong and may be handled in a hurtful manner, but we can still learn from it. If people view something wrong in us and brings them to a judgement, we must reject the judgment, but yet seek out the reason for the criticism.
Why is it necessary for so many of us to only learn through negative experiences? We try follow the same direction and apply the same principles hoping for a different outcome, but it will always remain the same. The worst thing is when it happens time and time again and people suffer the consequences of their actions, they are quick to play the victim. They blame society and the world and never take accountability for their own wrong doings. People can go through a lifetime claiming to be foolish victim.
A foolish person does not take criticism well, and will always blame everything and everyone around him for his ill fate. When people do try assist and correct them they are reluctant to accept the reality of correction and pass it off as judgement. Unfortunately this defence mechanism will result in the person making the same mistakes until they suffer personal destruction. And even then they will find it hard to face reality and take accountability.
When we are making foolish choices in life, people who love us will never allow us to continue down that path of destruction. However misguided their approach is, if we do not adhere to the correction or change our ways. The correction or the manner in which they approach the situation may intensify. They may become more forceful until we at least acknowledge their concerns.
Not every lesson will be taught in love and not every teacher will be seeking our good. But make no mistake every person is a teacher, and every circumstance is our class room. We can learn from the harshest criticism and from the biggest fool.
We can learn from all criticism and correction good and bad, we simply need to use it to our advantage. We must separate that which is beneficial and that which is misguided. If we can accept all criticism, even misguided correction and criticism will not have much influence and cause us little pain.
In a day when so many people claim to speak in the name of the Lord. People who are desperately seeking the Lord are easily controlled and persuaded by the judgement of proclaimed spiritual leaders. People are mesmerized by ministers that proclaim to be speaking on the behalf of God all the time, so then they assume that the ministers prophecy must also be true.
The first thing we need to understand is that the presence of spiritual gifts(as listed in 1 Corinthians 12) does not necessarily equal the presence of a godly character. There are many instances in the bible where God used people mightily, even though they had serious flaws. Having spiritual gifts does not give any person the right to over step the boundaries in people life. God Himself does not even exert the kind to control than many “spiritual minded” people attempt to exert. There is a misconception that spiritual gifts come because we are holier than other people, but actually they come upon us because we are more willing and available. If we could earn them, then they would not be called gifts.
Prophetic, revelation and discerning gifts are legitimate spiritual gifts. But the way these gifts are exploited and presented to the body of Christ is a perversion of the truth. There is no gift that gives us the ability to look into the heart of another person. There is no gift that can determine the motive of other people like we think prophecy can. The bible explains the purpose of prophecy in
1 Corinthians 14:3 But he who prophesies speaks to men for building up, and exhortation, and comfort.
The fact that one might see something wrong in another person’s life does not mean it’s necessarily a spiritual gift. It can however be a wise fruit of life’s experiences, or maybe just a critical attitude. The gift is when we view the unacceptable but yet we find the person acceptable and have the ability to edify, exhort and comfort the individual.
It not discernment when we view people and judge them, and then try interfere in their lives to try fix them. It’s not ministry to attack, and scrutinize people and their wrong doing. It is ministry to offer help to people who have a desire for a new life. Ministry is about where we are going, not where we have been.
We must commit our lives to a life of love, and when we see fault in people, we must show them the love and acceptance that God has shown towards us. It’s the kindness and love of God that will help them face, and conquer their problems. It truly nothing that we can take ownership of. How we respond and act to people in a positive and loving way, and accept people with all their problems and flaws is a gift.
Because spiritual leaders speak for God on the pulpit, they feel they have the right to speak for God all the time. When they tag the end of their conversations with “the lord said” or “God has shown me” they feel it becomes inarguable. And the listener will have no way to respond, it is terminology that is wildly misused by people who often are the representatives of the very Savoir that they try to exploit, just to get their view and opinion across.
We all have access to the Lord, and God has given us that access through the Holy Spirit which is within us. We do not have to go to other people to seek Him, He is alive within us.
When we have an intimate, daily personal involvement with Him, no one can ever lead us by spiritual manipulation. God views each of us equal, all children and servants. No person is more important than another and each of us have our purpose. Being a leader does not give us control, special rights or privileges. In actual fact the leader is the servant to the rest of the community in which they are leaders of. When we try control and cross other peoples boundaries we are no longer serving them. We can guide, direct submit thought, ideas and teach, but in the end people need to direct their own lives out of their relationship with God.
If we feel that we are to deeply influenced, or concerned with our leaders influence we must give our focus and our lives back to the rightful owner. Jesus our Lord.
Association can be a very powerful tool and can be extremely beneficial, on the other hand it can also work against us.
We tend to associate certain activities, events, words or even behaviour types with past experiences. Because of associations that we have made we stereotype others based on their speech, skin colour, position of authority or any number of different factors.
Before we reach adulthood we have created a complex maze of associations whereby we judge the world around us and the people in it. This can cause major hindrances in our lives for years to come.
Stereotyping can also lead people to live life driven by hate, and can cause the victims of those stereotypes to be driven by fear. we have this tendency to base our view point about people, on what we have experienced or been taught. “ if this is how someone looks, acts, talks etc. then all people who share the same characteristics will behave or treat me the same.”
this judgement not only effect our future, but our interaction with other people too. Just think how many relationships you have not even given a chance because you have judged the person based on your fears, and experiences.
These are the common misconceptions and example of the stereotypes we often believe in.
· Men are strong and do all the work.
· Men are the “backbone.”
· Women aren’t as smart as a men.
· Women can’t do as good of a job as a man.
· Girls are not good at sports.
· Guys are messy and unclean.
· Men who spend too much time on the computer or read are geeks.
· All Arabs and Muslims are terrorists.
· Italian or French people are the best lovers
· All Jews are greedy
So how do we approach people based on track record without entering into judgment?
We can observe or realize that their particular track record says we cannot trust them in a specific area. It would then be wise not to venture in trust beyond what we know about a person. It is, however, not right to hold in apprehension without reason and Judge people by there so called stereotype. Even when someone’s track record says they should not be trusted, we still do not know if they are being dishonest at that specific moment. We do not refuse to trust them because their past proves they are dishonest. Wisdom, observation, discernment and love gives us the freedom to take appropriate actions without having to pass a judgment.
“ a sensible man watches for problems ahead and prepares to meet them. The simpleton never looks, and suffers the consequences. Proverb 27:12”
Associations become judgments the moment we say, “this equals that.” Regardless of the similarities the past does not necessarily equal the future. We cannot judge one person on the basis of other people’s actions. When we allow associations to dominate our emotions, we are giving control of our life to those people from the past who’ve hurt us.
We should give people the benefit of the doubt until they give you reason to do otherwise. And information is the key to conquering suspicion. If we are afraid to gather that information, we must realize that is our problem and we cannot continue to project that fear onto others.
When association causes our emotions to spin out of control, we are being driven and dominated by the mere fabrication of our imaginations. We are often controlled by what ‘you think I think.’ Attitude. We truly need to free ourselves from this vain imagination and personnel perception we have of other people and there differences. And instead accept that people are different and may look, speak and dress differently. Remember you may be in that position one day, and the last thing anyone want to experience is judgement.
One of the biggest problems we face in our lives was never being able to grasp the concept of consequence. We often don’t understand or even really care about the outcome of the bad choices we make.
When we were younger most of us where petrified of being in trouble, but as life progressed and the more mistakes and bad choices we make the less and less we worry about the outcome. The thing that we all must remember is that every action has a reactions, every bad choice has a consequence.
I take for instance now in my life many of the individuals that I try help, make some horrific choices. I try my best to help, guide and prevent them from making these mistakes. But what I have come to realize is that I am not doing the right thing by interfering. By me standing in the way of their consequences, people don’t learn the severity of the outcome.
Its really hard to stand back and see how people you care for make some horrible mistakes, and then worst of all is to see them go through that pain of the consequence.
We love the phrase, that will never happen to me, but think how often each of us used it in our lives. Or how often looked at a person trying to help, and think what do they know, blah blah blah.
Often we see people begging on the street, and laugh at them, and think how it was possible for them to get in that position, later in the height of our addiction our criticisms and laughter turned into fear, when each day that pasted, we actually get closer and closer to that point of standing in their position.
But the one thing I can assure you of, is that the bad choices of yesterday, don’t necessary catch up to you today.
I think we don’t realise the impact that substance abuse has on our body’s, and often we feel indestructible, or become desensitised. But the reality of it is that this mortal body and this fragile mind, can only take so much hammering and as mentioned before we will still have to pay later for the those bad choices.
Consequence is a real concept, although we don’t like it, or recognise it often, it is there and it truly has a way of creeping up on us .
Can you imagine how differently things may have come out if Adam and Eve had considered the consequences of their choices?
What if Cain had considered his choice to get angry and take out his frustration on his brother, Abel?
If Lot’s wife had not made the choice to turn back to Sodom, Lot would have had his wife and his daughters would not have done what was despicable in having children with their father. Those children, became a constant source of trouble for the children of Israel during their initial time in the Promised Land.
One of the most significant examples is in Genesis 16:1-12
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.
2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
3 Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.
4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.
5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The LORD judge between you and me.”
6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.
7 Now the Angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
9 The Angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.”
10 Then the Angel of the LORD said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for
multitude.”
11 And the Angel of the LORD said to her:
“ Behold, you are with child,
And you shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
Because the LORD has heard your affliction.
12 He shall be a wild man;
His hand shall be against every man,
And every man’s hand against him.
And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren
Each of them had the choice, God had promised Abraham and Sarah a child, but the grew impatient, and as with us took matters into there own hands. Sarah and Hagar had an immediate consequence, it also had consequences we are still feeling today. The next time you turn on a world news program, look at the conflict in the Middle East. Arabs will call themselves sons of Ishmael the son of Abram and Hagar, while Jews call themselves sons of Isaac the son of Abraham and Sarah. As the Angel told Hagar, her son is indeed a wild man and with his hand against every man, with every man’s hand against him, while he dwells in the presence of all his brethren. That’s quite a consequence for one poor choice.
we need to be conscious of the choices we make and realise the consequences that may follow.
We have a choice to listen and take guidance from the Lord. And through this we have a much more efficient and reliable way to make right choices. Or you can continue to follow the way that has brought such destruction and pain.
I’ll close with some scripture that if received and understood, will help greatly in this area.
We have I Corinthians 2:10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
16 For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
What are you going to choose?
The word clearly commands in Exodus 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
There is not a Christian that would wilfully break this command. But yet in the most subtle and seductive manner, we all are guilty of this in some degree. It’s not that we go cut a piece of wood, carve an image and bow before it. Nevertheless we create these idols with our imaginations.
2Corrithians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
2Corrinthians 10:5 pulling down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ.
Our vain imagination becomes a high thing that opposes everything that we know and understand about God. We have this ability to create idolatrous concepts of God when we pass judgement on Him.
We judge God because we don’t believe what He says.
How often do we face difficulty in our lives, and we ask the Lord for guidance, and when we get the response and it’s not exactly what we want to hear. we choose not to listen and make the most common mistake- Listen and choose our own direction, and not what God had instructed. We try recreate God in our own image. Instead of us opening our hearts and minds to the way God shows them to us, we continually try make God see things the way we want them to be.
The word imagination derives from the Greek word Logos, Logos has to do with logic, reasoning or computation. The New King James version translates it as arguments. A vain argument is a result of reasoning, computing and reaching a concept about God that is not based on truth and reality. It is an argument with reality.
We base these idol images of God in so many ways, the most common being is we become so self centred when we interpret the world, that interpretation is based purely on our experiences and ourselves. We try change the concept of God to fit in with our life experiences.
When we use the word “why” to God, we enter a judgement about Him. God has told us that all we need to know about Him is in the Word, and He sent Jesus who modelled all that He is. We should be able to look at the life of Jesus and understand God. But how often do we, we look at ourselves and our experiences and ask “why did this happen to me?”or “why did God allow this to happen?”
By asking these questions we shape and mold God into the god that we believe we serve and we justify our perceptions and our action on this concept that has truly made us miss the mark.
We look to God and find Him guilty of every bad thing that happens on this earth, every child that is abused, every animal that is hurt and we find Him guilty of every heart that is broken.
After Job spent nearly forty chapters blaming God for his troubles, God asked him a question- would you condemn Me so that you may be justified(Job 30:8) the answer for job and the human race is overwhelming “Yes! We would rather accuse You than take accountability, and be able to justify our actions. How often have you heard people use the phrase. “the Lord givith and the Lord taketh away”(job 1:21). We fail to realise that, that passage was a part of Jobs ramblings. We fail to see that Job had declared himself innocent, without taking any responsibility in all his troubles. Sure he was a righteous man, but he still had responsibilities.
Every time I create a concept of God to justify or explain what I do not understand, I alter the perception of God, which ultimately alters the perception I have of myself. We must understand that any perception that is inconsistent with what Jesus showed us through His life and teaching must be rejected.
Everyone of us have unanswered questions about God and our lives. We all have situations that are beyond our explanation. However we must not let our need to judge cause us to judge God, the end of that path is devastation. Accept the testimony that Jesus modelled of God, believe who He is. And when we do not understand, do not judge!
We all have good intentions when it comes to other people and their problems, often people will share their problems with us. And we feel often that we are obliged to listen and interfere. The problem is that we would rather deal with other peoples issues than our own. Although we are invited into these areas, it actually crosses biblical boundaries of ministry.
Even though our understanding of helping others is accepted as the norm. We cross the line with little awareness of scriptural or emotional violation. We often create conflict and invade privacy, then we wonder why we experience the chaos and pain.
Matthew 6:34 So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.
This principle applies across the board, and we do not need to carry other peoples pain and we truly have enough of our own. We often take on the pain of others as a way of escaping our own pain, research has shown that our minds must for survival purposes create distractions from the problems we are afraid to face. It is obvious that the denial does not remove the pain, it just helps us not face it. A lot of people work harder and try be distracted by their work, others thrive on crisis’s, and for most people to meddle in other people’s problems is the best way not to deal with their own. when we see people and the chaos and issues they face, it often gives us relief that our lives are not so bad. its easier to focus on their issues than deal with my own. We really need to get in touch with ourselves before we can know the difference between our own issues and the issues of others.
The bible says that the stripes are for the back of fools(proverbs 17:10 and 29:19) a fools only hope of learning is when he has faced the consequences of his actions. Much of our pain comes from the fact that we cannot listen. Individuals that do not consider or listen to advice usually end up in trouble, they don’t like the trouble, but always try to do things there way. The most tragic person is the one that does not listen to advice, and continually finds themselves in the same situation over and over again, and never actually learn from the consequence of their actions.
An even greater fool is the one who tries to keep another fool from facing the consequences, we feel like we are helping and we are obligated to try rescue them. This does not go in line with scripture, and too many times we intervene in other people’s lives in order that they do not have to suffer the consequences of the actions, and then we wonder why they never progress in life. We must understand it’s not their fault we crossed the personnel line it is ours, we make their problems ours and we prevent them from a real opportunity to learn and progress. People learn through consequences, we thinks its love when we intervene, make decisions for them, and interfere in there issues. But love is based on truth, when we violate scriptural principals, it’s not love.
We must learn to allow people to go to God and deal with their issues with Him in their own time. God really needs to become a reality to people, and He is much more effective than us in dealing with issues. If we convey the truth to them, and direct them in the right direction and allow the Holy Spirit to do the rest.
If we read the gospels we can see how Jesus responded and related to people, an example is in Luke 12:14. People tried to draw Jesus into a dispute about an inheritance. He simply said “Who made me your judge.” Jesus would not interfere in matters that people had to work out in their own hearts. And neither should we.
We really need to establish our own identity in Christ, and we all have our own issues and problems to face and deal with. Allow people to deal with their own issues, we may offer advice or guidance, but we cannot ever make the choices for them.
Recent Comments